CONFERENCE

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QA

Monday, March 17

This summit will discuss new and/or current tools, processes and organization methods being used in QA today and show how QA is an integral part of development through the entire lifecycle of the game, from inception to sunset. What works for some, might not work well for others. What used to work may not uphold with the growing culture of smartphone, social and online gaming. Attendees will gain some new insight and knowledge that will help existing QA Teams/Managers as well as those new to QA. Every attendee will leave with his/her own list of guiding principles to build QA practices upon.

2014 HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS

Making Every Crash Count: Effective Mobile Game Testing

Sean Robertson (Google)
Dave Santoro (Google)

Many game developers see testing as a tradeoff: teams spend time and resources to get a higher quality product with fewer bugs. The Google Play Games team learned the hard way that testing techniques such as automation, layered testing and rapid iteration are essential for releasing solid gaming features on a tight schedule. In this talk, we will show how incorporating these tools up front will not only improve product quality, but also increase your development velocity - while making feature development safer and easier for your entire team.

QA via the Masses: Tapping into Player Enthusiasm to Improve QA

David Lease (5th Planet Games)

Usually, if your player base is pointing out flaws in your game, it means you haven't done your job in QA'ing it properly. But when your player base is actually part of your QA team, it flips traditional thinking on its head. By inviting users to seek out flaws and involving them in the QA process, it is possible to actually drive deeper player engagement and loyalty while streamlining your company's QA process. 5th Planet Games' David Lease explains how his company taps into player enthusiasm to solicit feedback and improve QA.

QA SUMMIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Daniel Pangelina

Double Fine Productions

Daniel Pangelina has been working in the video game industry since 2006 in various QA and QA leadership roles. Daniel has shipped numerous console, hand-held, PC, Mac, and phone titles over the years at SEGA and now at Double Fine Productions. Currently, Daniel is the QA manager at Double Fine Productions.

Mario Vasquez

Electronic Arts

Mario has over 20 years of experience as quality assurance leader, program/project manager and product manager with industry leaders such as Electronic Arts, Motorola Canada and Unisys Corporation. Most recently, he has been spearheading the transformation of QA within Electronic Arts to build a defect prevention culture that will improve software and game quality and deliver great experiences to EA consumers.

Ben Wibberley

VMC Game Labs

As director of games, Ben is responsible for account management, business development and sales for VMC's Game Labs Division. A 15-year veteran of the video games industry, he started as a QA tester and has remained involved in and passionate about games QA ever since. He was previously a co-founder and EVP of one of the industry leaders in games services. Ben has also worked on the representation side of the business at his own agency WRA and later DDM to represent some of the best and well-known names in video game development. His expertize encompasses business development, sales, global account management, brand, marketing, games services, publishing support, production, outsourcing, QA, localization and strategic relations. Ben is a regular speaker at industry events, a member of BAFTA, IGDA and chairperson of the IGDA QA SIG.